Re: Dissatisfied w/Debian? Make something 'pure'.

[Craig Sanders <cas@taz.net.au>]

On Mon, Jun 12, 2000 at 08:31:23PM +0300, Ari Makela wrote:
> Andrew Pimlott writes:
> > On Mon, Jun 12, 2000 at 12:31:03PM +0200, David N. Welton wrote:
> > >     If people really want to do something useful, which will show in a
> > >     practical way that we can do without non-free software, why don't
> > >     you take all of the programs in non-free, and make a hit list.
> > 
> > Such a list was discussed here under the subject "freedomization
> > task list" (or similar) some months ago.  I'm sure it could stand
> > some new attention.
> 
> I think it has a serious flaw: how can people agree on what non-free
> software is needed? People have different needs. 

true enough, but it's not really a "serious flaw"...does it really
matter that the end-goal is a moving target? there will always be new
users with different needs, and new non-free software which may (or
may not) satisfy those needs. butthat doesn't mean that it's not a
worthwhile thing to attempt.

if such a list gets more people working on free alternatives to non-free
software then it's worth doing. if it results in even one more free
program being developed to release quality, then it's a success.

non-free will vanish of it's own accord when no debian developer feels
any need to package or maintain any non-free software. until then, there
is a demonstrable need for the software.

> The current non-free is a sensible compromise and anything else harms
> everybody: Debian project, Debian maintainers and Debian users.

agreed.

craig

--
craig sanders